Motivation for Ministry

Introduction

- Jesus came not to be ministered to but to minister- this was to be the pattern for every great “Christian”

The question is not “Should I be serving?” The question should only be “Where should I be serving?”

Yet there are many professing “Christians” who have no motivation for ministry.

The reality is that your motivation for ministry should be love. Yes love for people, yes love for your church, yes even love for your pastor but above all of these your motivation for ministry should be your love for the Lord Jesus Christ!

Our love for Jesus should motivate us to:

Start Serving

We should not start serving because someone has put pressure on us to get involved in ministry.

We should start serving the Lord in the ministries of the local church because of our love for the savior!

Notice that Jacob volunteered to serve Laban. It was not because of his love for Laban or for the animals he would be tending but ultimately because of his love for Rachel.

If Jacob had a love that caused him to serve Laban seven years for her then how much greater love ought we to have for the one who gave his life for us.

- we love him because he first loved us.

Our love for Jesus should motivate us to serve Him. We serve Him by ministering to people in His name.

- hungry gave me meat, thirsty gave drink, stranger took me in, naked clothed me, sick visited me, in prison came unto me.

If you are not serving today, the question must be asked why not? If you love Jesus then you should be serving Him in some way and the best place to serve Him is through your local church.

Again the question is not if you should serve but only where should you serve?

Enjoy Serving

In the end Jacob did not spend his seven years with Laban depressed and despairing of life.

Our service to the Lord will not be a drudgery when it is motivated by a sincere love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our service to the Lord will not be a drudgery when we are motivated by a sincere love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ministry is sometimes difficult but we can enjoy even the difficult days when we know that we are doing it for Jesus.

Jacob may not have enjoyed every task that Laban had given him to do, but seven years of difficult labor seemed to him as only a few days because of LOVE!

The weeks and years of faithful ministry will be the same for you and I if we our ministry is motivated by love for Jesus. We must remember we are not primarily serving the people we are ministering to, the pastor or the church, but the Lord Jesus Christ.

Continue Serving

Jacob faithfully executed his duties to Laban for seven long years only to find out that he would have to serve another seven years before he could take Rachel as his wife.

We can be sure that Jacob was frustrated, angry, disappointed, and let down. He had a decision to make. Would he serve Laban for seven year more? The answer for Jacob was yes but why? It was because of his love for Rachel!

When you become involved in ministry you will find that there are difficult days. You will find that the devil will always give you a good reason that you should quit serving.

May I encourage you to keep serving! We must remember the reason that we serve.

We do not serve the Lord for the results we see though it is always a joy to see people whose live have been changed but there will be times when those you minister to do not respond.

We do not serve the Lord for the recognition that we receive. It is great to be recognized for what you do but the truth is there will be times when your sacrifice and dedication may go unnoticed or unappreciated.

We do not serve the Lord because of the pastor or the people because there will be times when they let you down.

If we are going to continue serving we must be motivated by our love for Jesus!

- the love of Christ constraineth us

There will most certainly be times when you feel ready to quit. There will be times when Satan whispers “you are doing all of this and for what?”

The one thing that caused Jacob to continue to serve Laban was his love for Rachel. There were surely days when he felt like quitting, days when he was angry and frustrated but each time he felt like giving in he must have thought of Rachel and his love for her.

The one thing that will motivate us to continue serving when we feel like quitting or giving up is our love for Jesus! There will be times when you don’t feel like teaching your class, when you don’t feel like driving your van route, when you don’t feel like working in the nursery, etc… but when those days come, let your love for Jesus motivate you to keep on serving.

Overall the time that Jacob spent serving Laban was not a drudgery or a waste

In the end Jacob did not spend his seven years with Laban depressed and despairing of life. The time passed as though it were but a few days because of the love that he had for Rachel.

Our service to the Lord will not be a drudgery when we are motivated by a sincere love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Ministry is sometimes difficult but we can enjoy even the difficult days when we know that we are doing it for Jesus.

I want to thank each of you who are faithfully serving, I want to encourage those who are not yet serving to ask the Lord where you can serve, I want to ask those who are ready to quit serving to rethink their decision in light of your love for Jesus.

Tonight I want to share a few burdens that God has placed upon my heart for the ministry of High Plains Baptist Church in order that we may more effectively minister to our community.

These are not immediate moves but steps I believe we must take to structure the church for future growth.

The needs:

A single adult Sunday School class

Division of youth Sunday School class to a Junior High and High School Class

Full-time piano player

Would you pray with me over the next couple of months that God would raise up men and women from among us to fill these needs?

It may be that God would lead you to fill one of these roles but if not would you commit to pray that God would provide for the filling of these needs?